New State Fair Exhibit to Tell the Story of Onondaga Lake

The story of Onondaga Lake including all of its blemishes will be on display for visitors to this year’s New York State Fair. A new three-thousand square foot exhibit in the Center of Progress building will chronicle the lake’s past as the ancestral grounds of the Onondaga people to its ongoing recovery from decades of industrial and municipal pollution. SUNY E-S-F President Neil Murphy says the space will allow visitors an interactive, hands-on experience.

State Agriculture Commissioner Darryl Aubertine speaks at a news conference announcing the Onondaga Lake exhibit at the New York State Fair.

Credit Christian Bersani/WAER News

"It will be told in digital media, it will be told in posters, it will be told in physical facilities, so it’s a wide range of media.there are approximately a dozen different exhibits; it starts from the history of the lake and goes through the cleanup, the improvement of the environmental indices measuring the lake, and ultimately this economic base that is being established because of the lake.”

“I think an important part of the story we are going to tell everybody at the state fair is ‘come back and visit us’, because this will be a great recreational and tourism resource for Central New York for generations to come.”

Millea says the cleanup has done wonders for the area, and recreational opportunities surrounding the lake will only continue to grow. for more go to www.nysfair.org. the fair opens August 22nd.